The Ochre Archives blogsite enables me to record for my own future reference and to share various learnings and experiences, many of which are connected with the farm that Jan and I purchased in 2003, "Ochre Arch", Grenfell, Australia.
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Wednesday, 25 April 2012

Two Natural Beekeeping Hives on Order

On 14th and 15th April I attended a
Natural Beekeeping Course at Alexandria in Sydney organised by
Milkwood Permaculture and presented by Tim Malfroy. Tim owns and runs his own
beekeeping business not that far from Blayney and Bathurst which he calls ‘Malfroy’s Gold’.

Some of the factors that influenced my decision to attend
the course included:

We
have ample trees here on Ochre Arch like Yellow Box that are known for
producing nectar and pollen from which honeybees make excellent honey

During
spring last year a bloke from Bathurst
had 60 hives here. From this two major lessons were learned: 1. I’m not allergic
to bees, having been stung at one stage when about 50 metres from the
hives mowing firebreaks 2. Some beekeepers are lousy when it comes to
giving landholders a share of the honey they harvest while their hives are
on farms. Whilst we are happy to help others in their commercial endeavours
we don’t enjoy being used – which in hindsight we feel we were by the bloke
who had bees here in the spring.

Off
the back of the above point we figure we might as well have our own hives
which we will run for commercial gain if we find we can harvest sufficient
quantities.

Jan
suffers from hay-fever and from what we are told eating honey from local
hives can help reduce allergic reactions to pollens. This is because the bees
make their honey from tree species that can cause hay-fever.

We
do enjoy taking on new challenges, and attending courses is always
fabulous for learning new things and broadening networks and friendships.

Owning
and managing hives under the Natural Beekeeping system requires minimal effort,
aligns with natural cycles and processes, and is low cost. This is
entirely consistent with our holisticgoal, especially when considering
that there is zero need to plant additional trees or provide additional
inputs into the landscape.

My
mother’s father used to maintain honey bee hives when my mother was growing
up and the experience of harvesting and eating the outputs was always a
source of enjoyment.

One of our local wildlife enthusiasts did attempt to talk me
out of attending the course, arguing that honeybees are not native to Australia and
occupy hollows that could be used by native fauna. Whilst the argument is valid
and we do highly value native biodiversity we already have honeybee colonies on
the farm. I have also had one neighbour inform me we will not have any success in
keeping bees due to the affects of chemicals used regularly in various farming
activities. This may prove to be the case but we’d rather try and possibly fail
than die wondering.

20 people attended the course at Alexandria,
travelling from as far afield as Geelong in Victoria. Tim is an
engaging and incredibly knowledgeable presenter, making the whole experience a complete
pleasure.

The program also included a visit to a residential property
in Sydney where
two beehives are maintained. In this photo you can see one of the hives
presently set-up in the chook-pen in the backyard. Apparently chooks and bees
are a great natural fit as the chooks take no notice of the bees but help with
pest control.

In this photo you can see one of the frames of honey being
held by Tim for us all to see what goes on in the hive.

I don’t propose to go into all the details of what Tim taught
us during the course in this post but plan on writing articles as we learn and experience more. That said, here are two excellent reference sources that give both
the detail and an insight into what’s involved:

We have just ordered two hives from Tim which we hope to
have ready for bees to occupy in early spring of this year. The plan at this
stage is to have one at the front of the farm in among the Yellow Box trees and
another up the back in among the White and Grey Box trees.

About Me

I grew up on the family farm at Grenfell in Australia, obtained a degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of New England and spent just over 25 years working for the National Australia Bank (the last 8 of which were in senior project, change management and representative roles) in Sydney, Orange, Wollongong and Melbourne. In 2003 Jan and I bought a farm, "Ochre Arch", Grenfell as an investment enabling us to reconnect with the land. We now live on and work at and from the farm.